Quixplained: the land-for-jobs case against Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi

The charges of corruption against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi in the land-for-jobs case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Yadav's family when he was the minister of railways between 2004 and 2009.

The charge sheet was filed on October 10, 2022 for offences of criminal conspiracy and corruption against 16 accused persons.

The final report also named Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti, former general manager of Central Railway Sowmya Raghavan, former CPO Railways Kamal Deep Mainrai, seven aspirants appointed as substitutes and four private individuals.

It was alleged in the FIR that some persons, although residents of Patna in Bihar, were appointed as substitutes in Group-D posts during the period 2004-2009 in different zones of the railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur and in lieu thereof, the individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land in the name of family members of Prasad and a company, AK Infosystems Private Limited, which was subsequently taken over by the family members of Prasad.

It was further alleged that about 1,05,292 sq. ft. land situated in Patna was acquired by the family members of Prasad from those persons through five sale deeds and two gift deeds and in most of the sale deeds, payment to the sellers was mentioned to be paid in cash.

The value of the land as per existing circle rate was about Rs 4.39 crore.

The land which was directly purchased by the family members of Prasad from the sellers at a rate lower than the prevalent circle rate. The prevalent market value of the land was much higher than the circle rate.

It was alleged that the due procedure and guidelines issued by the railway authority for the appointment of substitutes was not followed and later on, their services had also been regularised.

(with PTI inputs)

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